Canadian Parliament Considers Visa Sanctions in Magnitsky Case

November 9, 2010

Cana­di­an Par­lia­ment Slams Cor­rup­tion in Rus­sia and Con­sid­ers Visa and Finan­cial Sanc­tions against Russ­ian Offi­cials in Sergei Mag­nit­sky Case

On the eve of first anniver­sary of the death in cus­tody of 37 year-old anti-cor­rup­tion lawyer Sergei Mag­nit­sky, the Cana­di­an Par­lia­ment has held hear­ings to con­sid­er impos­ing visa and finan­cial sanc­tions on the Russ­ian offi­cials respon­si­ble for his false arrest and tor­ture. The hear­ings were orga­nized by the Cana­di­an Parliament’s Sub­com­mit­tee on Inter­na­tion­al Human Rights in which mem­bers heard tes­ti­mo­ny from Mr Magnitsky’s client, William Brow­der, CEO of Her­mitage Cap­i­tal Management.

At the hear­ings, Cana­di­an par­lia­men­tar­i­ans stat­ed that the Mag­nit­sky case is a shock­ing exam­ple of the cor­rup­tion and impuni­ty that per­vades today’s Rus­sia and high­lights the extreme phys­i­cal dan­ger of doing busi­ness in that coun­try. The Hon. Irwin Cotler MP, a for­mer Cana­di­an Jus­tice Min­is­ter and coun­sel to Nel­son Man­dela and Nathan Sha­ran­sky while they were impris­oned, said:

“I am famil­iar with the com­pelling and trag­ic case of Sergei Mag­nit­sky and regard William Browder’s tes­ti­mo­ny as an impor­tant look­ing glass into the cul­ture of cor­rup­tion and impuni­ty in today’s Rus­sia.” Read more

Members of the Organized Criminal Group That Stole $230 Million in a Fraud Uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky Has Made a Sixth Attempt to Destroy Evidence of Their Crime

October 20, 2010

Yes­ter­day mem­bers of the crim­i­nal group that stole three Her­mitage Fund Russ­ian invest­ment com­pa­nies and $230 mil­lion paid by these com­pa­nies in tax­es made the sixth attempt to destroy evi­dence of the thefts uncov­ered by Her­mitage Fund lawyer Sergei Mag­nit­sky, this time at the l0th Arbi­tra­tion Appeals Court of the Moscow Region. The court approved an appli­ca­tion from a 42 year-old Vic­tor Markelov, who has been con­vict­ed for the theft of $230 mil­lion and is cur­rent­ly serv­ing time in a cor­rec­tion­al facil­i­ty. This judg­ment revers­es the pre­vi­ous court deci­sion that rein­stat­ed HSBC, Her­mitage Fund trustee, in the Russ­ian cor­po­rate registrar.

“This appli­ca­tion is the lat­est attempt from Markelov, who is some­how fund­ing a team of high-priced lawyers from his jail cell to obstruct the imple­men­ta­tion of court deci­sion to return the stolen Russ­ian com­pa­nies to the Her­mitage Fund,” said a Her­mitage Cap­i­tal rep­re­sen­ta­tive. “It is amaz­ing that Judge Mizyak of the 10^th Arbi­tra­tion Appeals Court would act so brazen­ly in con­spir­ing to destroy evi­dence in one of the most high-pro­file fraud and mur­der cas­es in Rus­sia. It brings true shame on Rus­sia that the jus­tice sys­tem could be so flawed.” Read more

Russia Promotes Investigator Responsible for the Arrest and Death of Anti-corruption Lawyer Sergei Magnitsky Amid Sharp US Criticism of Impunity of Russian Officials

October 12, 2010

Russ­ian author­i­ties have pro­mot­ed the chief inves­ti­ga­tor respon­si­ble for the arrest and tor­ture to death in cus­tody of 37-year lawyer Sergei Mag­nit­sky who uncov­ered a US$230 mil­lion cor­rup­tion com­mit­ted by police offi­cials. Inves­ti­ga­tor Oleg Silchenko of the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry, who fal­si­fied mate­ri­als against Mag­nit­sky, pres­sured him to change his tes­ti­monies and refused Mag­nit­sky’s med­ical assis­tance requests, has been pro­mot­ed from Major to Lieu­tenant Colonel.

“This is a shame­ful response from the Russ­ian author­i­ties to the requests to bring to jus­tice Silchenko and oth­er offi­cials respon­si­ble for the arrest and tor­ture of Sergei Mag­nit­sky. The Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry rewards them for the mur­der of an anti-cor­rup­tion lawyer as a job well done, — said a Her­mitage Cap­i­tal rep­re­sen­ta­tive. — It is time for the offi­cials who played a role in Sergei’s trag­ic death to be crim­i­nal­ly charged instead of pro­tect­ed by their col­leagues.” Read more

EU Commission: Magnitsky case is a litmus test of the Medvedev’s Presidency

October 11, 2010

The Euro­pean Com­mis­sion issued a strong state­ment regard­ing the case of 37-year old Russ­ian anti-cor­rup­tion lawyer Sergei Mag­nit­sky mur­dered in cus­tody last year, call­ing it a lit­mus test of the Medvedev’s Presidency.

The Euro­pean Com­mis­sion said: “Today, the Mag­nit­sky case remains an impor­tant lit­mus test of whether Pres­i­dent Medvedev is seri­ous in his recent calls for mod­ern­iza­tion and rule-of-law in Rus­sia.”

The Euro­pean Com­mis­sion said that in spite of the Euro­pean Com­mis­sion ele­vat­ing this issue to the high­est lev­els of the Russ­ian gov­ern­ment, the Russ­ian offi­cials impli­cat­ed in embez­zling $230 mil­lion of pub­lic funds and Magnitsky’s repres­sion, have not been held account­able for their crimes. Read more

29% of Russians Know About Sergei Magnitsky

October 5, 2010

A new poll con­duct­ed by an inde­pen­dent Lev­a­da Cen­ter shows that 29% of all Rus­sians have heard of the death in cus­tody Sergei Mag­nit­sky, a 37-year old lawyer for Her­mitage fund tor­tured for his anti-cor­rup­tion tes­ti­mo­ny against police offi­cers. Ten months since his death, no one has been charged for his tor­ture and slow, cru­el mur­der in custody. 

The poll also reveals that the major­i­ty of Rus­sians want an open inves­ti­ga­tion of Russ­ian inte­ri­or min­istry offi­cials impli­cat­ed by Mr Mag­nit­sky in cor­rup­tion and in his retal­ia­to­ry arrest. Read more

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